Parents as Governors and Partners in Schools

Abstract

Parents and schools are partners in the education of children because schools are a formalized extension of the family. This partnership is also emphasized by recent legislation, such as the South African Schools Act of 1996. This partnership is in line with the mission of parents to educate their children or assist in the education of their children. In spite of this demand on parental involvement in schools, this research in Black schools indicates that parental involvement in school activities is limited. Negative attitudes toward schools and inferior feelings prevent them from being effective partners of schools. The only official partnership between schools and parents is the school governing body in which the parents are playing an important role. The limited involvement of parents and, specifically, the reasons why they are not involved has a specific impact on the expected functions of parents as governors in the school governing body.